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Of Adversity
by Francis Bacon |
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It was an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics),
that the good things, which belong to prosperity, are to be wished;
but the good things, that belong to adversity, are to be admired. Bona
rerum secundarum optabilia; adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if
miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It
is yet a higher speech of his, than the other (much too high for a
heathen), It is true greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man,
and the security of a God. Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis,
securitatem Dei. This would have done better in poesy, where
transcendences are more allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy
with it; for it is in effect the thing, which figured in that
strange fiction of the ancient poets, which seemeth not to be
without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the state of a
Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by whom
human nature is represented), sailed the length of the great ocean, in
an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing Christian resolution,
that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh, through the waves of
the world. But to speak in a mean. The virtue of prosperity, is
temperance; the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals
is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old
Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New; which carrieth the
greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet
even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall
hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy
Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job, than the
felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and
distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see
in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively
work, upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy
work, upon a lightsome ground: judge therefore of the pleasure of
the heart, by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like
precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed:
for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best
discover virtue.
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contact: morgan at [email protected] page last modified: thu jan 12 01:37:48 2006 |
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